Free I Saw Her Standing There by Marie Force

and interrupt what he’s got going on or stay somewhere else.”
    Will shifted the truck into park. “We’re not staying somewhere else, and it’s high time one of us got to see this mystery woman he’s been running off to meet the last few weekends.”
    The dogs were up and whimpering to get out after the long ride, and apparently they recognized where they were.
    “I’m scared to go in there,” Cameron said. “What if they’re doing it in the kitchen or something?”
    “Eww. He’d better not be doing that.”
    “But what if he is?”
    “I’ll kill him before you see anything. I promise.”
    They got out and met in front of the truck, the dogs dancing around in circles at their feet. Will reached for her hand and pulled the key out of his pocket with his other hand as they walked to the front porch. “Here goes nothing.” He opened the door and yelled inside. “Put your pants on, bro! I’m coming in!”

CHAPTER 8

    The temp rose to 34 or so at the sugarhouse for a few hours, and the skies finally cleared by late afternoon. We turned the vacuum pump on for a while but didn’t get much sap.
    —Colton Abbott’s sugaring journal, March 5
    C olton sat straight up in bed, the covers pooling at his waist. What the hell had woken him up?
    “Colton? Where are you?”
    Was that . . .
Will
? If Will was here, Cameron probably was, too. “Oh my God, what’s he doing here?” Colton bounded out of bed, dragged on a pair of shorts, pulled the covers up over Lucy, who was still asleep, and was heading for the bedroom door when his brother appeared in the hallway. Not sure where to look, Colton glanced over his shoulder at the bed to make sure Lucy was well hidden and then returned his attention to Will. “What’re you doing here?” he asked in a low whisper.
    “I could ask you the same thing.”
    “Is he decent?” Cameron asked as she joined them.
    “Be quiet, will you?” Colton asked as he tried to get them to leave the room.
    But Will wouldn’t budge. He looked around Colton. “Who’ve you got in there?”
    “None of your business. Get out, and leave me alone.”
    “Oh, wouldn’t you love that?” Will crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, an infuriating smirk on his face that made Colton want to seriously punch his older brother in the mouth.
    Colton felt like he was having a heart attack as he tried to figure out what Lucy would want him to say to them. And how was it possible that she was sleeping through this?
    Will might’ve been older than him by seven years, but Colton was stronger thanks to a decade of wielding an axe on the mountain. He put his hand in the middle of his brother’s chest and gave him a hard shove.
    “Hey!” Will said as he stumbled backward. “Watch out for Cameron.”
    Will’s angry cry finally got Lucy’s attention. She sat straight up in bed, auburn curls rumpled around her face, bare breasts visible to anyone who might be looking, and Will and Cameron were definitely looking on with shock on their faces.
    “What was that?” Lucy asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
    Colton moved quickly, lunging for the blanket on the end of the bed, which he all but threw at her.
    “
Are you freaking kidding me? My
Lucy is
your
mystery woman?” Cameron’s shriek could’ve woken the dead.
    Lucy let out a scream of her own when she apparently realized her best friend was now in the room staring at her, not to mention that her best friend’s boyfriend—who also happened to be Lucy’s boyfriend’s brother—had gotten a good look at her breasts. What a mess. “What’re you doing here?” she asked Cameron.
    “Oh no,
no
,” Cameron said with a pointed finger. “We all know what I’m doing here. The question is what’re
you
doing here? Someone has some rather significant explaining to do.” Cameron crossed her arms and looked between Colton and Lucy. “Well?”
    Colton sent his brother an imploring look, which Will thankfully